371 pages
I was really torn about how to rate this one. I went back and forth between four and five. I settled on four because, to me, for a book to get a five-star rating, there should be no doubt; it's just that good.
The pace of this book was too steady. The fight scenes didn't carry urgency, and the reprieve scenes didn't have a slow stillness to them. It was fast enough that I wanted more, but not fast enough to need the more right now. The emotions, though... Those were there in spades. The pain and longing, the sadness and lonely. The joy and the hope, the love and grace. The emotions were gut-wrenchingly well written. I've never encountered a story before that had problems with pacing but still packed an emotional punch.
The last quarter of the book had much better pacing AND the it-hurts-so-good emotions. That was the only part of the book I really didn't think I could put down. I did really like it, though. I loved the world Blake created. The lore was fascinating, but a touch confusing at times. The was another book I was able to pull out the twist before it happened (sort of). I had it mostly right, so I was only half surprised. However, the way it was set up was really fantastic. There were enough crumbs for me to focus on and string together, but not enough to ruin the ending.
Ruby is a very intriguing character. She went through a lot of growth during the course of the book, but it feels like she has a long way to go still. She has a few traits that annoyed me, but I feel like that's the sign of a strong, realistic, and relatable character. Arcus is equally compelling. I am a little weary when it comes to the strong, silent, haunted thing in main characters. I don't think it's going away anytime soon, though.
The actual story was compelling, and it left a lot of questions swirling in my head. I don't want to say too much and spoil anything, so I'll just say this: Diving into the lore and untangling the threads will be fun. I really hope there is an opportunity to do that in the second book.
Rating:
♥♥♥♥
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